Hoover aims to make World Games visitors feel welcome

The city of Hoover is rolling out the welcome mat for The World Games and hoping to put its best foot forward to impress an international audience.

With the vast majority of competitions taking place in Birmingham July 7-17, the Magic City is expected to gain the biggest economic impact, but Hoover and some other nearby cities are also predicting an economic boost from the Games.

Hoover, in particular, should feel effects because the city has 20 hotels with 2,100 rooms, said Tynette Lynch, the city’s director of hospitality and tourism. Also, World Games officials have said softball — which is being played at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium — is expected to be one of the top draws of the Games, so Hoover businesses should see additional clientele from that.

World Games CEO Nick Sellers projected that attendance for the Games as a whole will reach 500,000 people or more and said the softball competitions should draw up to 100,000 people over five days (July 9-13).

Also, the projected economic impact for the state is $256 million, Sellers said. Hoover is expected to gain a $14.2 million economic boost from the Games, including $8.1 million in direct spending, Hoover City Council President John Lyda has said.

Gene Hallman, president and CEO of the Bruno Event Team, which is working with The World Games, said the economic impact of the World Games softball in Hoover should be roughly equivalent to that of the SEC Baseball Tournament.

The hospitality industry — namely hotels and restaurants — are expected to gain the most. However, some Hoover hotel operators say bookings as of late May were not as strong as they were expecting them to be at that point.

The softball competition at the Hoover Met is scheduled to include 21 games over five days, with four games a day until the final day, which will have five games.

The U.S. softball team will be among the contestants, and that team essentially is the same team that will represent the United States in the Olympics, so it should be a big draw, Sellers has said. Having a former player from the University of Alabama, Haylie McCleney, also should boost attendance locally. McCleney played on the 2020 U.S. Olympic team, which won a silver medal.

The Japanese team, which regularly is one of the top softball teams in the world, also is expected to be at The World Games, which should boost interest further.

Slow start

Paul Dangel, the sales director for the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel and a former chairman of the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce board of trustees, said bookings at his hotel for The World Games as of mid-June were not as much as expected.

A government group had booked 50-60 rooms for the entirety of the Games, and another small group had booked some rooms, but those were the only group bookings at his hotel as of mid-June, and individual bookings were coming in slower than expected.

“I don’t think, from a hotel standpoint, it’s going to be as big of an impact as we originally were led to believe, but I don’t think it’s going to be a failure either,” Dangel said. “Probably somewhere in between.”

Other hotel operators shared similar stories.

Yvette Love, sales director for the Holiday Inn on John Hawkins Parkway, said her hotel blocked off 20 of their 112 rooms for The World Games travelers. As of late May, they had not seen many bookings but were still hoping to gain business from the Games.

Janet Hartmann, sales director at the Residence Inn by Marriott on John Hawkins Parkway, the closest hotel to the Hoover Met, said her hotel as of late May had eight rooms booked by a small group for The World Games but was seeing slower response than expected. She still had 50 rooms of 118 to sell for that time period as of late May, but by mid-June, bookings were picking up, she said.

It seems the hotels in downtown Birmingham are filling up first, so perhaps as those hotels hit full occupancy, more business will trickle out to Hoover, Hartmann said. “I think there must be a lot of last-minute bookers!” she said. “We are so excited to welcome The World Games to Birmingham!”

Her hotel also has bookings during that same week for the Hoover High School 7-on-7 football tournament, which draws people from all over the Southeast, she said. Youth tournaments at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex keep them busy. “We’re sold out most of the summer, not just weekends,” she said.

Dangel said the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international travel may be hurting attendance for The World Games, but he is trying to remain optimistic and be prepared.

His hotel agreed to let The World Games put up a giant banner on the side of the hotel facing Interstate 459, and two of the Hyatt Regency’s staff have been trained as ambassadors for The World Games to help direct people to different events around town.

Hospitality efforts

The city of Hoover also ordered new “Welcome to Hoover” banners for the light poles along Stadium Trace Parkway, but they won’t say “The World Games,” so they can be used for other events as well, Lynch said.

The city also ordered several thousand window clings with “The World Games” written on them that are to be shared with Hoover businesses to make national and international guests feel welcome around town, she said.

The city is taking steps to make sure businesses are aware The World Games are happening so they will be staffed as well as possible during that time period, Lynch said.

Hoover is contributing to the thousands of volunteers who will be working at competition venues around the Birmingham area but also will have its own team of volunteers working in Hoover, she said.

The plan is to have welcome tables at the Met and at Hoover hotels to provide guests with information about places to eat and places to go in Hoover specifically, Lynch said. They would love for visitors to know about places such as the Riverchase Galleria, Moss Rock Preserve, Aldridge Gardens, Hoover Randle Home & Gardens and the Cahaba River, she said.

We just want to make sure our visitors have the best experience they can have and

walk away saying ‘Hoover was so hospitable. Everybody welcomed us.’

Tynette Lynch

The city also is partnering with the new Brock’s Gap Brewery to throw a “block party” to kick off the softball competition the day before games begin.

The brewery is right next to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium and on Friday, July 8, will have food trucks and four bands playing on stages throughout the day, owner Jamie Cato said. There also will be games for kids, he said.

He and Lynch said they want to create some energy and excitement for the softball portion of the Games.

City officials also are aware of recent complaints about litter along Hoover roads and are trying to stay ahead of that problem, Lynch said. They don’t want anything to leave a negative impression on visitors, she said.

“We are just trying to create a great experience for the people that are coming to the World Games, especially for guests staying at our hotels and eating in our restaurants,” Lynch said. “We just want to make sure our visitors have the best experience they can have and walk away saying ‘Hoover was so hospitable. Everybody welcomed us.’”